Raiders of Uecketev Part 9

Year 22840

Month of Nevemme

Run by Raiders

Durkquire Marks (age 18)

Raiders of Uecketev pt. 9

His breaths were ragged and his body shaking with every cool rush of wind that passed over him. He dug his fingers into the pebbled beach. He was alive! But what of Bien? Frumar? Did anyone else survive? Durkquire didn’t have those answers.

He heard the massive creature behind him. A low grumble sounded from deep withing its chest and he could feel the ground vibrate with its motion. Durkquire turned around and fell to his back. The creature’s snout was inches from him. It let out a quick puff of air, baring its teeth, and pulled away.

Durkquire sat up slowly. He stared up at the massive black creature before him. It looked like a naux, but was wingless. This naux had gills and an extremely long tail that flicked at the water in the distance. It reminded him more of an eel sporting horns and legs. The naux nestled its massive head into the rocks and clawed at the sand beneath the waves. He could see the clouded water spots from her movements.

His gaze moved to the sea. He wasn’t sure where they were or where the wreckage of Frumar’s ship was.

Did everyone die because of me? He hated the thought, but felt it was true. He brushed his shaking hands over his face. His heart rate wasn’t slowing.

“I don’t believe we got off on the right foot.” Jade crouched down beside him and offered a hand.

He took it cautiously and she gave it a short shake.

“Now, the Dagger’s will likely be making a second round of the wreckage. And we’re still in plain sight.” She reached out and grabbed his hair, turning his face to look at her. “You came to Verra for something. No ethrean comes without good reason. So, what is it?”

Durkquire wasn’t sure he felt like sharing his story. He didn’t know much about her, other than that she was a thief and had a behemoth for a pet.

“Well?” She gave a tug at his hair. “I didn’t come back for yeh just to hear yeh’re a loafer not knowing what to do now that he’s no longer a sentry.”

She scoffed, “I’ve waisted my time.” She let go and stood, turning her back to him. “I should’a just let yeh drown.”

“The Daggers.” He never saw them, not really. The nauxen were too far away when first spotted. “What are their leader’s names?” Durkquire asked.

“Why yeh wanna know?” Jade partially turned and looked down at him. She tucked her hands into her pant pockets. “Got something to do with why yeh’re here?”

“Something, yeah.”

Jade looked away with a slight shake of her head. “Dagger’s got four men leading them. Yondur, Jerapeth, Lauden, and Fru. They got word of yeh faster than the last ethrean what walked these shores.”

“Why do they want us dead? Ethreans, I mean.” Durkquire tucked his hands under his arms, trying to still the persistent shaking.

“Not sure. Lots of people feel yeh’r kind live too long, know too much. Something about a power grab in the past or the like.” Jade sighed. “Are yeh looking for somebody specific?”

“Kind of.” Durkquire still wasn’t sure if he could trust her. His gut was uneasy, his heart rapid and his body still not calming from the last half hour.

“Yeh either are or aren’t.” Jade turned and crouched back down. She jabbed a finger into his chest. “Yeh’re after raiders. Leaders of one of Verra’s hierarchy. So, who is it?”

“I’m after murderers.” Durkquire pushed her hand away.

“I see. Yeh don’t trust me.” She huffed with disbelief. “Even after I saved yeh’r pale skin.”

He didn’t have anything to rebuttal with. She was right, he didn’t trust her. The air between them felt thicker, more distant and foreign. Durkquire couldn’t let it stay this way or let it get worse. He eyed the nauxen that waited patiently on the shore’s edge.

He changed the topic and asked, “Sheela, that was her name, correct?”

“Yes.” Jade walked up to the beast and brushed her hand across Sheela’s snout.

If he were to compare the size of her hand to the beast’s snout, it was like a pebble to a boulder. Durkquire just couldn’t get over the size of this naux. At least he was pretty sure it was a naux.

“Did you raise her?” He asked.

Jade leaned against Sheela and stared back at him as though his question was absurd. “I don’t know if yeh’ve noticed….” She gave a broad gesture to Sheela’s size, “she’s a bit big to have grown in my lifetime.”

“I’m sorry.” Durkquire stood. “Admittedly, I don’t know a whole lot about nauxen. Sheela is a naux, right?”

He felt terribly uncomfortable staring at the creature. Part of it, he was certain, was the effects of his limited experience with the mystic beasts. He knew there were different types that correlated with the natural elements, and he thought he knew which type was largest, but this nauxen before him was larger than any living creature he had laid eyes on. Jade looked completely at ease, like one would be striking their pet searral.

“She is.” Jade smiled. “She’s a water nauxen.”

“Water? Don’t they live in the southern seas?” Durkquire found his strength returning, his footing stable and his hands steadying. While he didn’t trust Jade, he did know that water nauxen were docile.

“Normally they do.” She looked up at the sky. “We can chat more later. I don’t like how quiet the sky’s become.”

Durkquire then listened. It was the same silence that had come before the Dagger’s attacked Frumar’s ship. Jade’s sudden movement pulled his attention down from the sky. She was climbing up onto the back of Sheela.

“Yeh coming?”

“On Sheela?” He blinked as he tried to process the idea.

“Yeah, on here.” She patted next to where she sat with one arm wrapped around the giant horn in the center of Shella’s head. “We’ve got to go before they get close enough to spot us.”

He took a deep breath and gathered what courage he had to take the first steps towards Sheela and reach out to climb her. He felt his fingers shaking with the anxiety of climbing upon such a creature. The scaled skin of Sheela was hard, but soft and pliable at the same time. It moved under his weight as he climbed. Durkquire reached for the horn and wrapped his arm around it, just above Jade’s.

“Sheela, veikit ah zmelee.” Jade spoke.

Durkquire felt as though he should understand what she said. It sounded much like the language of weaves, but not.

Sheela responded to the command and turned her head north. Durkquire’s breath caught in his lungs with the sudden dive forward into the water. His body was soaked yet again as Sheela began to submerge.

“Wait. Underwater?” he looked to Jade.

She rolled her eyes. “I thought yeh were an ethrean.” One of her hands reached out for his chest and she cast, “Gaiza Tresna Ephošana.”

The water swallowed them.

He held his breath instinctively and squeezed his eyes shut while holding tightly to Sheela’s horn. His body began to slip with the current. He almost let go, but held tighter with both arms.

Durkquire felt a tap on his shoulder from Jade. He opened his eyes and blinked several times, the water stung. Jade smiled like one would look at a child who hadn’t figured something out that was obvious. She blew outwards. The bubbles were quickly sucked behind them in the current.

What is she doing? She just let out all her air.

His lungs began to hurt. He wanted air. Jade then tapped at his mouth and nodded while taking in a breath, only it wasn’t air she inhaled. She didn’t appear to be struggling. Durkquire began to release his air. If worse came to worse, he could always let go of Sheela and swim to the surface. Jade patted at her chest and pointed to him.

Does she want me to breathe underwater? His eyes widened with his sudden realization. That was exactly what Jade had cast over herself and him before they submerged.

Durkquire parted his lips and sucked inward. The water filled his lungs, but it did not hurt, nor did it throw his body into a fit for survival. His lungs relaxed, pulling the air from the water just as they would have done above it. This was how Jade had survived riding Sheela when saving him from the depths of the Zemin Sea.

Jade smiled and nudged her head forward. He looked and found an entire new world. The fading sunlight cast a deep red over the ocean’s ceiling. Below it was a forest of seaweed that swayed with the various currents. Schools of fish darted out of the way as Sheela approached and passed over. He felt himself relaxing with the seascape. Sound was lost in the rushing water that passed his ears, it made everything he was seeing feel like a dream, fogged over just enough that he questioned it.

Bright corals clung to the dark sinking stonewall. They mixed in with the seaweed and other nautical plants. His heart jolted in a startle when Sheela let out a deep rumbling roar. It wasn’t one that felt menacing, but one of enjoyment. The water ahead of them rippled with the wave of sound.

Durkquire soon found himself smiling, enjoying the ride through the underwater world. He looked to Jade. She smirked and looked back ahead. She dropped a hand to Sheela and patted four distinct times. The response from Sheela was instant.

Downward pressure threatened to push him from Sheela’s head. All at once the pressure left and they broke out above the waves. Sheela continued to swim north, keeping just her head above the water.

“That should be far enough.” Jade glanced back the way they had come.

The weave cast over his lungs ended and he promptly coughed on the last bit of water he had inside. Jade reached out and grabbed hold of his head, covering his mouth with her other hand. She was surprisingly strong.

“Shh.” She hushed him and then looked to shore on their right.

Durkquire pushed her hand from his mouth and thankfully she released him. He would have been able to overpower her if needed, but preferred not to add to the tension between them. He followed her gaze. The shoreline hadn’t changed much from what he’d seen at Feaerre’s port.

Tall cliff walls of gray stone rose several hundred feet above the ocean. Atop them he spotted movement. A nauxen tale. It pulled out of sight atop the cliffs.

“I thought you said this was far enough?” He whispered.

“It should have been.” Jade looked away. She appeared to be thinking. “My inner well is at its limit. What about yeh’rs?”

Durkquire took a moment to examine his well. With all the time that had passed since meeting Jade, his well was full again.

“I’ve got plenty.” He followed her thoughts. “You want me to cast that weave for underwater?”

She nodded. “Sooner the better. Feels like someone is watching us.”

Durkquire glanced around. He couldn’t see anybody. Other than the nauxen atop the cliffs, he only spotted a lone barrel bobbing on the waves far behind them.

“When yeh need to cut it off, tap my shoulder four times and I’ll let Sheela know.” Jade re-settled and wrapped her arm tightly around Sheela’s horn. She gave the command to Sheela and they began to descend into the ocean once again.

Durkquire reached out for Jade and hesitated. She lifted her other hand and took his, placing it over her lungs.

“Do it!”

“Gaiza Tresna Ephošana.” He cast it just before the waves covered them.

Pulling his hand back he felt the draw upon his well. It would be continuously pulling energy from it until he chose to end it. Durkquire understood now why Jade had to cut it off earlier. Being human, she physically couldn’t carry as much in her well. If it had been just her, she could have remained underwater for an hour, but covering him that time was cut in half.

He looked back behind them. Sheela’s long tail waved back and forth, propelling them forward just like an eel. The sunlight was fading, but it still glinted off the tips of her horns, which carried down the center of her spine and tail to the large, fish-like, fin.

His eyes then caught on something small moving its way down towards Sheela’s tail. The form couldn’t be mistaken. A person was reaching out for a rope tied around Sheela’s tail. They pulled closer and closer with each waving pass.

Durkquire reached out and tapped Jade’s shoulder twice. She looked to him and he pointed back behind them. Following his direction, Jade looked and spotted the stow away.

She acted quickly.

Jade released her hold upon Sheela’s middle horn and began sliding across her back, towards her tail and the person who’d just reached it. The way she moved was practiced. One hand kept contact with Sheela and the other tapped at the spiking horns as she passed them. Jade reached the stow away within seconds.

Durkquire watched as the person was knocked from Sheela with a heavy kick from Jade. Their grip on the rope was lost and they were left behind. They didn’t appear to be swimming up for air, or moving much at all following Jade’s well aimed impact. Then Jade did something he wasn’t expecting.

She let go of Sheela.

Jade swam towards the sinking stow away. Durkquire acted quickly and let go as well. Jade was almost out of range for his cast weave. He instantly slid across Sheela’s back and down her tail. The currents kept him surprisingly close to Sheela’s moving body, and then Sheela’s tail fin hit.

The force knocked him off course and towards the rocky cliffs of Verra. The currents shifted and he found himself caught in a feeder current. It pulled him backwards, back the way they had come to the south. Durkquire looked to Jade. She was out more than twenty feet from him dragging the other person towards the surface, and she was struggling.

He reached out for the rocky wall and caught the edge of a fissure. Focusing his energy into his legs, he positioned and kicked off, back out to sea. He gave it all he had, swimming to break free of the current.

Durkquire felt the moment it released. Each stroke came with ease and his momentum began to pick up. The closer he got to Jade, the more he could see of the person’s features. He hung limply on Jade’s arm, his nauxen tooth necklace and head bobbing with each forced motion upwards.

Bien!

Durkquire reached them and quickly moved in to help Jade. They broke the surface and he released his weave. Jade tipped Bien’s face upwards and slapped at the sides of his face. The seconds passed with no response. Durkquire’s chest tensed. He couldn’t tell if Bien was breathing, he held him around his chest, having taken him from Jade, but the ocean’s constant motion made it too difficult to tell.

All at once, Bien’s head shot up and he coughed up the water he had swallowed. He wheezed and gulped in air while trying to pull free of Durkquire.

“Hey! Bean!” Durkquire shouted at him.

Bien stopped struggling and looked behind at Durkquire. “You can let go now.” He coughed some more, clearing his lungs.

Durkquire released Bien and moved over to better wade in the water.

“What are yeh doing here?” Jade splashed water at Bien. “I could have killed yeh!”

“Thought you did.” Bien spoke under his breath, but Durkquire caught it. He wiped the water from his face and looked to Jade. “I was following him.” His head nudged in Durkquire’s direction.

“Why? You saw me go down with the ship. I was a dead man.” He asked.

Bien let an agitated puff of air out. “Frumar told me to keep you safe.”

“Is Frumar’s words law?”

“They are!” He shouted then drew back speaking softer, “To me, they are.”

“How’d yeh know he was alive?” Jade asked.

“I saw your beast swallow him. I saw you, and tied onto the beast’s tail before you took off.” Bien’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you save an ethrean?”

Jade scoffed, “I-I don’t know! It just didn’t feel right for him to go out that way.”

Silence between them settled in. They waded there for over a minute before Bien spoke again.

“So, are we swimming to the cliffs, or just going to stay here till we tire and then drown?”

“Sheela’s coming. It takes her a minute to turn around.” Jade looked north.

Durkquire followed her gaze and spotted the massive horns sticking out of the water on approach. The water beneath them spread out. It pushed them apart from each other as Sheela’s massive head came up from under them.

He felt his feet connect with her scaled skin and braced himself to keep from falling off. Jade did the same, but Bien looked panicked. His balance was unsteady and he barely kept from falling off.

Jade brushed her hand across Sheela. “Mauna Metenneh.”

Sheela put off a sound much like one would expect to hear from a purring feline. Durkquire stood up straight and walked closer to Jade.

“Are we still heading north?”

Jade looked between him and Bien. “Well, seeing as we found the one responsible for causing my paranoia, that all depends on who ye’re trying to find.”

Bien looked to Durkquire. “You’re looking for someone?”

“He’s out to kill him some murdering raiders.” Jade folded her arms.

“You?” Bien stifled a laugh. “I don’t know if I can believe that you’d kill anything.”

“I’ve had my share of fights.”

“Fights, is it?” Jade smiled. “Ye’ll need more than a few fights to take down a raider’s leader.”

“You’re serious?” Bien’s face lost all signs of enjoyment. “A raiding leader? Marmidon, you’ll die.”

“I will not!” He defended.

They spoke simultaneously, “Will too.”

He had nothing to say to that. They clearly felt that he couldn’t take down a raiding leader by himself.

Do I ask them for help? Would they help? He wasn’t sure.

“So, now that we’ve established that.” Jade began with a sweep of her hands at him. “Who is it we’re after?”

Durkquire was stunned.

Bien stretched his arms above his head and sighed. “I wouldn’t be keeping my word to Frumar if you die here in Verra.”

Jade looked to Bien. “I don’t remember inviting yeh.”

“You. It’s you.” Bien snapped at her.

“Right,” Jade mocked. “I don’t remember inviting yeh'ou.” She put extra emphasis on the ‘you’ with annoyance.

The sight of these two going at it brought a smile to Durkquire’s face. “Simmer down, children.” He waved at the air in a calming gesture then grew serious. “I’m after, Dreggar, Herram, and Serrath.”

“Blood and bile!” Jade’s eyes popped open. “Yeh’re after them?”

He looked to Bien to see his reaction. It was similar. He appeared to be choking on his spit and pounding his chest to clear it with muffled coughs.

“What did they do?” Jade asked and gripped his wrist. She looked earnestly up at him.

“What have they not done?” Bien noted and stood back up straight.

“I….” He wasn’t sure if he could tell them. He pulled his wrist free of Jade. “They’ve done a lot.”

“Hold on.” Bien raised a hand in pause. “We passed by Uecketev on our way here. That’s an ethrean city.”

“More like a large countryside town.” Durkquire corrected with a half present tone.

Bien waved his hand. “Regardless, the men were whispering something about it. Something bad happened to Uecketev. Was that your home?”

Durkquire’s shoulders slumped. His breaths slowed and the heat left his hands. He hated how it affected him.

Durkquire drew in a deep breath and let it out. He had to trust someone. Pierre wouldn’t want him doing this alone. “They slaughtered my people. Everyone in Uecketev except a few women they took and myself.” He turned from them and sat down. He didn’t want to see their reaction. He didn’t want their pity.

“Whoa whoa, hold up.” Bien crouched down and rested a hand on Durkquire’s shoulder. “They killed off an entire city?”

“I believe he said countryside town.” Jade walked around to face him and took a seat on Sheela. She leaned forward on her crossed legs. “Who’d they take? A pretty girl yeh fancied?”

He thought about Cerra and shook his head. Cerra wasn’t taken, she was dead. “They took my mother.”

Bien and Jade exchanged a glance and nodded.

“We’ll help yeh.” Jade reached out and placed her hand on his. He didn’t shake it off this time.

Bien gave a squeeze to his shoulder. “I’m sorry for being so cold. I’d like to offer my assistance in retrieving your mother and putting an end to the Dreadnaughts.”

“Sheela!” Jade stood and walked over to the center horn.

She looked to Durkquire expectantly as she took position. They were about to dive back underwater. His lungs suddenly drew in and his body filled with adrenaline. He moved across Sheela and sat down beside Jade.

“Come on, Bean.” Jade waved Bien over. “Take a seat and hold on. We’re gonna find us some murdering raiders!”